October 2003 Archives

If Jill and I were in a buying cycle right now, one of the individual stocks we would consider would have to be Krispy Kreme. The interest for me lies in 1) the relative simplicity of the product, 2) how darn good their product is, and 3) how little penetration there is so far from a brand standpoint.

The Motley Fool has an article up about Krispy Kreme this morning:

Krispy Kreme: A Ghoulish Treat via Fool.com

Krispy Kreme's no overnight sensation. The company's been turning out its sugary glazed rings for more than 65 years. Its "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign is legendary, particularly if you're a Southerner like me. Nothing can incite me to slam on the brakes and whip haphazardly (look out, Granny!) into a parking lot faster than a brightly lit "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign.

And I'll certainly eat more than just one. I find it darn near impossible to stop after a single taste of something that good. I'm not alone. I don't want to call the things addictive, but... has anyone tested them for any "special, secret ingredients"? Not that I'm complaining.

Krispy Kreme is rapidly expanding to share the love with people beyond the Mason-Dixon line -- indeed, beyond the U.S. There are currently just 315 stores in 41 states, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. For a bit of context, Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) operates approximately 7,225 locations worldwide -- 5,570 in North America and 1,655 internationally.

In other words, Krispy Kreme worldwide has 5 percent of the number of locations that Starbucks has in North America. "But Kevin, " you say. "I can get Krispy Kreme donuts at the gas station, Wal-Mart, or Kroger. Why do I care about their individual locations, per se?" The answer is: if you haven't had a warm, fresh-out-of-the-oil Krispy Kreme donut, you haven't had their good stuff. It is the stores that will drive the brand recognition and attract customers. The "boxed" donuts will likely be the cash cow.

< Kevin steps up on soapbox >
The one thing I don't like about Krispy Kreme as an investment is that they are not currently paying dividends. As Jill and I's investment style mutures, and hopefully the market along with it :), we will be focusing more on those stocks that want to be real investments for us. I am digressing, but the 90's are over. Tech stocks imploded because they were not built on fundamentals -- they strove for growth instead of returns. This investor, at least, wants a company to be serious about its stockholders, too. And that means paying out dividends in those profitable quarters. Otherwise, the stock price cannot literally be based on anything other than hype, and the company is lulling itself into a flawed business model.

We want to know that the investment we make in a company is going to at least have the opportunity to have a return while we're still owners and not just after we've parted ways. Perhaps it is the greed of those people who are running the companies to put themselves first, and the other "owners" last. There are exceptions to our developing "dividend rule", but they are few and far between.

I know this works with Jill, but Addi too?

Baby Rub Down via Yahoo!
(HealthDayNews) -- A wonderful way to bond with your baby is by gently massaging his or her body, says St. Louis Children's Hospital.

Other benefits of infant massage include:

• Relief from discomfort associated with teething, congestion, gas, colic and emotional distress.
• Improved muscle tone.
• Improved digestion.
• Stress release.

Here's how and when to massage:

• Hold your baby in your lap and gently rub his or her back, arms and legs.
• Avoid massaging when your baby is fussy or hungry.
• An evening massage will help prepare your infant for a good night's sleep.

Oh, Martha. What have you done?

Martha Stewart Posts Quarterly Loss via Yahoo!

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the lifestyle empire built around style maven Martha Stewart, on Thursday posted a quarterly loss as its core brand took a hit from the legal travails of its founder.

The company posted a third-quarter net loss of $3.8 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a net profit of $2.8 million, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $51.2 million, from $70.9 million a year earlier.
[...]
Stewart is to go on trial in January on charges of obstructing justice in connection with a stock trading scandal.

So that's a swing of $6.6 million net year-to-year for the third quarter on revenue of $51.2 million. In "big business" that may not be a huge swing, but MSO isn't quite that big. The only good news I can gather is that the company was a little leaner during this quarter: they needed $55 million to break even this quarter compared to $68.1 million a year ago. In other words, costs were down $13.1 million. I like that.

The company may still have Jill and I as shareholders -- we're still in the black on our investment and have optimism for the future of the company -- but they've lost us as subscribers to the flagship magazine. At least for now.

Martha: come clean.

We're sick. I don't know what this stomach bug is, but we're having trouble getting rid of it. Our whole family has been ill for about a week now with no sign of letting up. I'm sick of being sick! Addison told me yesterday that she's sick of it too.

This bug has (apparently) come from some friends of ours who've seen the same sort of lingering effects -- you're sick, then better for a day or two and then sick again...

I don't like it one bit.

I think this is notable: Apple has now made iTunes -- its acclaimed music ripping/burning application -- available for the Windows platform.

So what's the big deal? Well, other than the ability to easily buy songs from the iTunes Music Store (which is integrated into the app) you can now take music from your existing CDs and put them on your computer. Then arrange them as you wish. Then burn them to custom CDs. And share them amongst your computers. And take them with you on your iPod. For free.

As I write this, I am in the -- ahem... -- lavatory listening to Pink Floyd being streamed wirelessly from the iMac in the closet upstairs. If Jill were upstairs and wanted to listen to some Christmas music from the same collection of songs, she could. At the same time. And, more to the point of the article, if Joe was here and wanted to listen to some light Jazz from his Windows laptop, now he can. At the same time. All this, for free.

This is technology I can embrace.

Take a look at our new photos. These are the times surrounding the birth of Addison.

Here's a list of Hale's current spoken word vocabulary. He knows more words than this, but these are the words he can say right now at almost 17 months.

Addi, baby, ball, Dad, Daddy, eggs, glasses, go-go, hi, juice, jump, Lambo, meow, Mommy, Mom-o, moo, Nanny, O's, outside, pee-pee, please, potatoes, puppy, roar, Ross, row-row-row, shoes, spish-splash, stars, tickle, tractor, trash, truck, tweet-tweet, uh-oh, waffle, Wal-mart, Wiley, yes

I think that's pretty good!

This is part of our first album of pictures of Addison.

Born: Monday, October 13, 2003 8:03 PM
Length: 18 inches
Weight: 7 lbs, 1 oz.

You can also see the same picture on the baby parade site at the hospital.

Update: you can read our journal from the hospital: part 1 and part 2

Friday is usually my favorite day of the week, because it's the end of the work week for Kevin and we get to have a few days of fun and relaxation. Today is an exception...kind of....

I have been in some sort of weird phase of labor since Tuesday evening, and quite frankly, I'm a little tired of it! So while I am still very happy that it is Friday, I'm more looking forward to Monday when I go back to the doctor and find out what in the world is going on with this kid!

Does anyone have any suggestions for kicking this labor into full gear? Be warned: if you tell me to just be patient and let nature takes its course, you're putting yourself in danger of a severe lashing!!

This is really an interesting look at that amount of money. I always fathom a billion by an idiom I picked up years ago: there are about 1 billion seconds in 35 years. This site looks at it in terms of volume.

A Little Perspective on $87 billion.
(or "A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon it starts to add up to some real money.")

On September 7th, 2003, President Bush announced on national television that he was asking the Congress to grant him an additional $87 billion dollars for the next fiscal year, beginning October 1, to continue the fight on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But $87 billion is an impossibly high number for anyone to visualize. Let's have a look....

If you use Google's search everyday like I do, you've probably stumbled upon Google News, too. It is a great collection of everchanging news stories.

Here's an interview with its creator, Krishna Bharat:

Google News Creator Watches Portal Quiet Critics With 'Best News' Webby
I want this to be a force for a democracy. I want us to be an honest broker, and I want newspapers featured on our site to get traffic from us. ... There's never been a more controversial time on the planet. I think it's great to be a news source at this point because there's so much hunger for news. You see a lot more diversity in the news coverage on our site than on others. I think the diversity is a mirror to the diversity of opinion there is worldwide. One of the things that makes us objective is we show all points of view. Even if you disagree with one, we give you both -- the majority and the minority point of view. The ones you don't agree with are education. It's nice to know what the other side is thinking. You'll see left-leaning ones as much as much as you see right-leaning ones. Frankly, the software doesn't know the difference between left and right, which is good.

I was reading a NewsWeek article earlier today about a startup company that is in the business of providing baseball teams with a huge wealth of data: pitching histories, strike placement, pitch order, and so on. The interesting part is this business is built upon facts -- they record our shared history. And as such, they do not own the information.

I want to give this some more thought. I've already given it some back when I built a stock market data aggregator. But it seems like there is something here that is an opportunity. For instance, at this time I don't think anyone is tracking the timing or volume statistics of weblogs and or Content Management Systems...

Jill received a chain email letter today which is really kinda neat. It is an (apparently true) account of some email that went back and forth between a Texas gentleman and a representative from ABC on-line.

ABC Response to Jim Neugent
If more of us took a stand maybe we could have some decent TV programs.

Jim Neugent is a coach in Childress, Texas.

Jim writes:

My name is Jim Neugent. I wrote to ABC (on-line) concerning a program called "THE PRACTICE." In last nights episode, one of the lawyer's mothers decided she is gay and wanted her son to go to court and help her get a marriage license so she could marry her 'partner.' ! I sent the following letter to ABC yesterday and really did not expect a reply, but I did get one.

My original message was:

ABC is obsessed (or should I say abscessed) with the subject of homosexuality. I will no longer watch any of your attempts to convince the world that homosexuality is OK. THE PRACTICE can be a fairly good show, but last night's program was so typical of your agenda. You picked the 'dufus' of the office to be the one who was against the idea of his mother being gay and made him look like a whiner because he had convictions. This type of mentality calls people like me a "gay basher." Read the first chapter of Romans (that's in the Bible) and see what the apostle Paul had to say about it.... He, God and Jesus were all 'gay bashers'. What if she'd fallen in love with her cocker spaniel? Is that an alternative lifestyle? (By the way, the Bible speaks against that, too.) --Jim Neugent

Here is ABC's reply from the ABC on-line webmaster:

How about getting your nose out of the Bible (which is ONLY a book of stories compiled by ANY different writers hundreds of years ago) and read the declaration of independence (what our nation is built on), where it says "All Men are Created equal," and try treating them that way for a change! Or better yet, try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as your lame crutch for your existence. You are in minority in this country and your boycott will not affect us or our freedom of statement.

Jim Neugent's second response to ABC:

Thanks for your reply. From your harsh reply, evidently I hit a nerve. I will share it with all with whom I come in contact. Hopefully, the Arkansas Democrat Newspaper will include it in one of their columns and I will be praying for you. - -Jim Neugent

Note: Wouldn't Satan just love it if people stopped using the Bible for a crutch? Please resend this to everyone in your mailbox.

-- Thanks, Jim Neugent

I wonder if the person from ABC considered how many people would read this e-mail! This is one we should definitely pass on.

It seems to me, quite often, that I am a conservative amongst liberals in terms of my use of technology; in particular my use of this online journal. As a matter of fact, as I get more and more into my reading of popular culture and online journals (348North News) -- to be quite honest, Christianity is not a popular topic. Unless someone wants to bash it, of course. So when I read the above account, be it fictitious or not, I wasn't surprised. That response is well within the views that a lot of people seem to be vocalizing these days. My thoughts are not to condemn them, but to offer solace and hope for them.

I've known homosexuals both personally and professionally; frankly, our interaction has been uncomfortable at times. Uncomfortable because I don't understand their viewpoint or their choice. What I do understand, however, is the situation where God sends us a curveball and we have to deal with it. To me, that's a way I can rationalize the choice. God is tempting us -- all of us -- and it is our opportunity to stand or fall. In our lifetimes, we will do some of both.

What I think is important is that we continue to have a choice. Those living in sin have the opportunity to turn from it. The Lord will never turn away from us, and welcomes even those who have been lost. And it is the duty of the found not to turn away because of someone's past or current situation.

The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke, chapter 15 sums up my thoughts. God will welcome -- with unselfish love -- even the lost son who has squandered his birthright. Our lives are our birthright and we need to celebrate both those on the path to righteousness, and those that are still willing to make a decision.

Happy Birthday, Bud. We love ya!

Shortly after 7pm last night I took the first telemarketing call I've taken in a long time. And it got me thinking -- didn't we sign up for a list or something?

We did. It was Indiana's Do-Not-Call list and we added our number at least a year ago. So what am I missing? I think it is the new federal legislation.

Indiana (where I live) chose not to share its DNC list with the FTC. This is because Indiana is keeping its own list going, but the question is of how it will be enforced. (If you live outside of Indiana, you can check on your state's decision here) I want my bases covered either way, so I'll not only keep up with Indiana's, but will also enroll in the national list. If you want to too, I'll help you out.

Here's what you can do:

1. go to this website: http://donotcall.gov/
2. click the menu item (on the left) named "Register a Phone Number"
3. type in up to three phone numbers -- leave out spaces, dashes or brackets
4. add a valid email address
5. click "submit"
6. verify your information and click "register" if it is correct
7. open your email from the FTC and click on the link
8. there is no step 8 :)

This will protect your phone number for 5 years. In our case, until 10/3/2008.

It takes 3 minutes to do -- I think it's worth the sacrifice. If you have reservations, take a look at the consumer FAQ.

If you want to cover your bases, you can make sure your Indiana DNC registration is updated by calling 1 (888) 834-9969 or using their website: http://www.in.gov/attorneygeneral/telephoneprivacy/ The latest Indiana list takes effect on January 1st, 2004.

One of my favorite movies as a kid was Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the story of a young man taking a day off of school. Actually, I used to watch it EVERY time I stayed home from school. Made me feel cooler than I really was, no doubt.

Today, I stumbled across a short essay regarding the timeline that Ferris supposedly sticks to throughout his day. His quote, "Life moves pretty fast..." is apparently pretty accurate -- although in the movie world Ferris' life moves faster than is possible given the number of things he, Sloane and Cameron pack into their day off.

THE TIMELINE PROBLEM by Mr J. L. Moss

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is one of my favorite all-time films. With brilliant portrayals of Bueller by Matthew Broderick, Cameron by Alan Ruck, and a luscious Sloane Peterson by Mia Sara, combined with a top notch script, slick direction by 80's auteur John Hughes, "FBDO" is not only a successful comedy, but a light hearted and wonderful film that ranks among some of the best films of the 1980's.